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Brett Mitchell to lead his final COYO concert on May 12 at Severance Hall

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by Mike Telin

COYO-Mitchell“I don’t know where four seasons went,” Brett Mitchell said by telephone. On Friday, May 12 at 8:00 pm in Severance Hall, Mitchell will conduct his final concert as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra before relocating to Denver to become music director of the Colorado Symphony. The program will include works by Joan Tower, Sergei Prokofiev, and Maurice Ravel.

Friday’s concert will be performance number 29 for Mitchell. He said there is something to be proud of in all of them, although the accomplishment of which he is most proud goes beyond the music. “It is the sense of family that we have built. What I find most rewarding is when I compliment someone or a section during rehearsal, the automatic response from the rest of the orchestra is to shuffle their feet and cheer.” [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: Fridays@7 with William Preucil & Brett Mitchell (March 3)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Mitchell-TCOFor his next-to-last appearance with The Cleveland Orchestra before taking up his new duties with the Colorado Symphony, associate conductor Brett Mitchell presided over a program of American music on Friday evening at Severance Hall. Two “Third” works were on the program: Aaron Copland’s stirring Third Symphony, and Augusta Read Thomas’s elusive Third Violin Concerto with concertmaster William Preucil as soloist. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra & Pennsylvania Ballet: George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker (Nov. 30)

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by Daniel Hathaway

tco-nutcracker-2016-mastroianniTchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet has been around since 1892, when it premiered at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. But for more than half of its lifetime, the best-known version in this country is the one that George Balanchine choreographed for the New York City Ballet in 1954. Northeast Ohioans can enjoy that Nutcracker in a fine and colorful collaboration between the Pennsylvania Ballet and The Cleveland Orchestra. The show opened on Wednesday, November 30 at the State Theater in Playhouse Square, and runs through Sunday, December 4. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra: Bruckner & a Briggs premiere (Nov. 18)

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by Mike Telin

briggsSince taking the helm of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, Brett Mitchell has continued the long tradition of challenging the first-rate ensemble to achieve higher artistic standards with each program. On November 18 at Severance Hall, Mitchell and his young musicians took on what was arguably the most demanding program of his tenure, and the results were stellar. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra & Pennsylvania Ballet to perform George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker

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by Mike Telin

penn-ballet-nutcrackerLike many great works of art, the first performance of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg on December 18, 1892, was met with less than enthusiastic responses from audiences and critics. Describing the battle scene, Russian critic Alexandre Benois wrote, “One can not understand anything. Disorderly pushing about from corner to corner and running backwards and forwards — quite amateurish.”

Alexander Dumas’ libretto was criticized by some for being unfaithful to its source, E.T.A. Hoffmann’s tale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Some critics questioned the ballet’s prominent use of children, while others referred to the party scene as “ponderous” and to the Grand Pas de Deux as “insipid.” [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra: a conversation with composer Roger Briggs

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by Mike Telin

briggsWhether you’re a member of a “Big Five” orchestra or not, the prospect of performing a newly-composed work is always exciting. On Friday, November 18 at 8:00 pm at Severance Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) under the direction of Brett Mitchell will have that opportunity when they present the world premiere of Roger Briggs’ Fountain of Youth, commissioned by COYO. The program will also include Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 (“Romantic”).

For composer Roger Briggs, the COYO commission was immediately attractive to him for two reasons: first, it provided him with the opportunity to write a new work that would be conducted by a former student. “Brett Mitchell studied composition and conducting with me at Western Washington University. He was a marvelous talent,” Briggs said during a telephone conversation. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra concert to mark Centenary of Rotary Foundation

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by Daniel Hathaway

arch-c-klumphA hundred years ago, Cleveland businessman, civic leader and accomplished flutist Arch C. Klumph founded the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, with a vision of “Doing Good in the World.” Rotarians from around the world will flock to Cleveland next weekend to celebrate the centenary of Klumph’s dream with a special concert by The Cleveland Orchestra on Sunday, October 23 at 3:00 pm in Severance Hall, followed by a Centennial Celebration Dinner that will see new members inducted into the Arch Klumph Society.

“This is a huge celebration, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Michael Johns of Rotary International said in a telephone conversation. “The Rotary Foundation is celebrating a hundred years of service to the community and to the world. We’re delighted to be partnering with The Cleveland Orchestra to bring this celebration to Cleveland, where Arch Klumpf was a member of the Cleveland Rotary Club.”

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra to premiere Briggs’ Fountain of Youth

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by Mike Telin

briggs2The first in a series of articles highlighting the world premiere of Roger Briggs’ Fountain of Youth.

The prospect of performing a newly-composed work is always exciting. On Friday, November 18 at 8:00 pm at Severance Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) under the direction of Brett Mitchell will have that opportunity when they present the world premiere of Roger Briggs’ Fountain of Youth, commissioned by COYO. The program will also include Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 (“Romantic”).

Premiering Briggs’ eighteen-minute tone poem is especially exciting for Brett Mitchell. “It’s impossible to overestimate the impact Roger Briggs had on me,” the conductor said during a telephone conversation. “If it weren’t for the opportunities he provided me, I wouldn’t be here now.” [Read more…]

Brett Mitchell to take the helm of the Colorado Symphony

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by Mike Telin

mitchell-mastroianniThe Colorado Symphony announced on September 12 that Brett Mitchell has been appointed music director designate for the 2016-2017 season, and will assume the post of music director in July, 2017. “It’s a great opportunity to be the Music Director of a great orchestra in a great city,” Mitchell said during a recent telephone conversation. “I don’t know how you could ask for more than that. I really don’t.” [Read more…]

Ross Binnie talks about The Cleveland Orchestra’s fall season

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by Mike Telin

binnie-rossAs The Cleveland Orchestra gears up to launch its fall Severance Hall season, we caught up with Ross Binnie, the Orchestra’s Chief Marketing Officer, and asked him to give his insights into the array of programs. He described them as “a blend of the curious and the familiar which will be wonderful for the audiences.”

The season kicks off on September 29 and 30 when Franz Welser-Möst leads performances of Ives’s Symphony No. 3 (“The Camp Meeting”) and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2. And organist Paul Jacobs (below) will make his Cleveland Orchestra debut as soloist in Copland’s Symphony for Organ and Orchestra. [Read more…]

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